Brotherhood reportedly running operations out of north London
apartment.

US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel spoke by phone with Egypt’s Minister of
Defense Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday, emphasizing the importance of the
upcoming constitutional referendum, which will take place on Tuesday and
Wednesday.

Hagel stressed the importance of a transparent referendum and
sought an assurance that election observers would have full access during the
process, according to a Pentagon statement issued by press secretary John
Kirby.

They both reaffirmed commitment to strong US-Egyptian
ties.

The constitutional referendum is the first step for the Egyptian
political transition since former president Mohamed Morsi was ousted in
July.

Separately, in Sinai two jihadists were killed when an explosive
device they were carrying exploded prematurely while they were riding a
motorcycle toward an army checkpoint on Monday, military sources quoted by the
Aswat Masriya website said.

In another incident near Rafah, Egyptian
security forces said that unknown assailants killed five jihadists and injured
two while they were traveling in a pickup truck, the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry
Al-Youm reported on Monday.

The bodies of the killed and wounded have not
been found and are believed to have been transported to an unknown
location.

Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood, which was designated a
terrorist organization in Egypt, has relocated a main headquarters to an
apartment in a north London suburb, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph
on Sunday.

As the organization faces a massive crackdown in Egypt, with
many of its leaders behind bars, those that escaped Egypt have chosen London as
a place to regroup.

The apartment is located in the suburb of
Cricklewood, and operations are run by relatives of two of Morsi’s arrested
aides.

One of the relatives told the Daily Telegraph that they chose
London because it is “the capital of a free democracy that values human rights
and social justice.”

Ibrahim Mounir, a leader in the international wing
of the organization, said that although orders still come from Egyptbased
leaders, its London base is a safe place to meet and run operations.